Turnbull's career began at Scottish local station Radio Clyde in 1978, and later, he freelanced for a number of years in the USA.

Turnbull joined the BBC as a reporter for the Today programme in 1986 and Breakfast Time as a reporter in 1988, before becoming a correspondent for BBC News in 1990. He covered a wide range of domestic and international stories, reporting from over thirty countries including a four-year stint as Washington Correspondent, based in the USA. His producer for a while was Sian Williams. In this role, he reported on a number of major American stories, including the O.J. Simpson murder trial and the Monica Lewinsky scandal that rocked Bill Clinton's presidency.

In 1997, Turnbull moved back to the UK and became one of the main presenters on BBC News 24, appearing alongside Valerie Sanderson. He also presented regular programmes on Radio 5 Live, including a stint as a presenter on Weekend Breakfast.

In April and May 2010 Turnbull travelled around the UK presenting and reporting for Breakfast on the General Election campaign trail.[1][2] In June 2010 he presented Breakfast live from Whitehaven in the aftermath of the Cumbria shootings.

In 2005, he was a contestant in the third series of Strictly Come Dancing, paired with Karen Hardy. In spite of a serious ankle injury in the second week (which then flared up at various points in the series), he stayed in the competition seven weeks, finishing sixth out of twelve contestants.

In August 2006, he agreed to take part in a polyphasic sleep experiment presented on BBC One's The One Show. In this experiment, he slept for a total of three hours per day, in six thirty-minute bursts, for ten consecutive days. The effect of this sleep pattern on his health was plain to see as he presented Breakfast almost every weekday during the duration of the exercise and became increasingly sleep deprived.[3]

In November 2006, Turnbull performed with the BBC News presenters for Children in Need in a performance which Jan Moir, writing for The Telegraph described as "charisma-free" and adding that although Turnbull dressed up like James Bond, he looked like a "dodgy sommelier."[4]

Turnbull also appeared in an episode of the game show School's Out broadcast on BBC One on 11 August 2007.

On 28 October 2007, he made a guest appearance on the children's television show SMart. In January 2008, he appeared on Celebrity Mastermind. His specialist subject was Beekeeping.

In 2009, he took part in the BBC series Around the World in 80 Days with Breakfast colleague Louise Minchin for Children in Need, travelling from Mongolia, through Russia and South Korea, before crossing the Pacific on a container ship and landing in California.[5]

Turnbull married Sarah McCombie in March 1988 in the London Borough of Hackney. The couple have two sons, Henry and Will (born October 1988 and October 1989), and a daughter Flora (born August 1991). Turnbull and his wife previously lived in Buckinghamshire but had to relocate to Rainow, Cheshire in 2012 following BBC Breakfast moving to Salford.[6]

BBC Breakfast presenter Bill Turnbull made an embarrassing slip-up on live television on Tuesday morning. He appeared to say the C-word instead of “client” while referring to reaction to a public health story. Turnbull quickly regained his composure ...

Breakfast presenter Bill Turnbull says the C-word on live TV, recovers like the seasoned pro he is. Sarah Deen for Metro.co.ukTuesday 21 Jul 2015 9:22 am. 2.6k. Breakfast's Bill Turnbull just said the c-word on live TV Bill Turnbull made the sweary ...

Bill Turnbull was left rather red-faced after blurting out a rude word live on TV this week. The seasoned news presenter, 59, made the embarrassing mistake on Tuesday morning (21 July) during a discussion on cancer on BBC Breakfast. Bill Turnbull...

He appears to have said "c***" instead of "client" w hile referring to reaction to a public health story. He quickly regained his composure and carried on with the rest of the broadcast. Turnbull is not the only star to have accidentally used the c ...

The Beeb's potty-mouthed presenter Bill Turnbull explains why his unrequited love for bees is nothing personal: “You'll never get bees to like you. You can get them to dislike you easily. You'll never get them to form an emotional relationship with you ...

what could possibly unite Jeremy Paxman, Bill Turnbull, Andrew Marr and thirty thousand buzzing insects? A love of bees of course. "It is great to celebrate Apis mellifera and to raise money for this fantastic charity." Photos courtesy of Dave Hogan ...

Three weeks ago BBC morning host Bill Turnbull wrote a column on "My Greatest Mistake." He recounted some long ago technical mishap when he was working for a local radio station. (The Guardian) But, the star of "BBC Breakfast" said, "I fear my biggest ...

There was a hive of activity at Marlborough House on London's Mall where the Queen's Head Gardener, Mark Lane, has transformed the borders to create a bee-friendly environment in one of Her Majesty's most beautiful and private palace gardens.

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